‘He was born in Chechnya, but France made him a criminal’ – Kadyrov on Paris knife attacker

The Chechen leader says France is responsible for the acts of Hassan Azimov, who was born in the Caucasian republic before moving as a child. Azimov was shot dead after stabbing five people and killing one in Paris on Saturday.

“I think it important to note that the entire responsibility for the fact that Hassan Azimov chose the path of crime lies with the French authorities. He may have been born in Chechnya, but he grew up in French society, where his personality, his opinions and convictions were formed,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel.

“I am sure that if he had spent his childhood and adolescence in Chechnya, Hassan’s fate would have been different,” the Chechen official added.

French media has reported that Azimov, born in 1997, grew up in Strasbourg, where his family arrived as refugees, before receiving his French citizenship in 2010.

According to Kadyrov, the attacked also obtained a Russian passport when he was 14, but its validity had lapsed, since it was not renewed at 20.

Azimov was reportedly put on a security watch list in 2016. Kadyrov wrote that French authorities’ reluctance to contain a known suspect “leaves a lot of unanswered questions,” and launched a wider broadside at the educational and social mores in the terrorist’s adopted homeland.

“Western societies believe that they have scaled unprecedented heights of democracy. Parents are prevented from having a hands-on role in bringing up their children, from telling them off, or regulating their behavior,” Kadyrov posted. “In this scenario, the state takes on responsibility for children’s upbringing, which they must accept in this case.”